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September 13, 2021 The 700 years since Dante Alighieri's death were also remembered by the asteroid "Divinacommedia" co-discovered, in February 2003, by astrophysicist Gianluca Masi, scientific manager of the Virtual Telescope project and coordinator for Italy of the Asteroid Day, and who managed to photograph him as he left the earth.
New image of the asteroid 65487 #Divinacommedia, discovered by @masi_gianluca dedicated to the masterpiece by #DanteAighieri, taken to coincide with the 7th century anniversary of the death of the Supreme Poet pic.twitter.com/HO3pIjk5C8
- Virtual Telescope (@VirtualTelescop) September 13, 2021
In June the International Astronomical Union (IAU) officially assigned the asteroid (65487) 2003 CD20 the name "Divinacommedia", in orbit around the Sun, dedicated to the work of the Supreme Poet.
"A denomination that wants to celebrate Dante Alighieri's universal masterpiece 700 years after his death", commented Masi.
The Working Group for Small Bodies Nomenclature of the IAU, approved the name on June 16th. From that moment, therefore, the name "Divine Comedy" officially entered the astronomical nomenclature. The motive is to be found in the 700th anniversary of the death of the Father of the Italian language this year. "I have always loved Alighieri's masterpiece and admired the constant presence of the celestial theme in all his works - comments the astrophysicist Masi - I am particularly happy and grateful to the IAU Working Group for having accepted my request".
Discovered in 2003, it is located on average 381 million km from the Sun, in the so-called Asteroid Belt, taking almost exactly four years to complete an orbit around the Day Star. It has an estimated diameter of about 3 km and takes almost three and a half hours to rotate on itself.